Let them Eat Cake

Posted by Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge

When we started planning the wedding the first thing I wanted to figure out was the food. I’m definitely someone who “lives to eat” and not the other way around, so I had an absolute ball figuring out our wedding cake.

As soon as we decided to get married in Savannah I knew I wanted to use as many local artists (and students from the Savannah College of Art and Design) as possible so I headed directly to Cheryl Day at Back in the Day Bakery. I didn’t have to look up any names, ask for recommendations; I knew after a few visits to her beautiful shop downtown that she was the baker for me.

All images courtesy of Back in the Day Bakery

Cheryl runs a lovely bakery in Savannah that specializes in old-fashioned desserts and cupcakes. In addition to seriously addictive sweets (which are always topped with decorations like vintage plastic ballerina dancers) Cheryl’s bakery also serves lunch and makes a mean ham sandwich. Since we weren’t looking for ham sandwiches (yet), I visited Cheryl’s bakery with my parents when we visited Savannah together.

[Side note: when we decided on Savannah, and not Virginia (where I’m from), for our wedding I thought it would be important for my parents and I to visit the city together so they could see why I loved it so much. If you’re having any trouble with reconciling your family and your wedding location choice I really recommend a family trip. It gives you time to talk about everything, spend time together, and have them be a part of the planning in a meaningful way.]

Aaron and I agreed that we didn’t want a fussy cake—we wanted something that looked like your grandmother just made it and you could practically taste it because it looked so good. So when I met with Cheryl I decided to leave the cake up to her. All I gave her were simple instructions: we want it to look homemade, I love anything that looks like stitching or antique paper, and please, no birds (Aaron’s request). I decided that so many parts of the wedding would be control-freak-fests for me that it would be fun to leave this portion of the big-day up to someone I trusted.

Aaron and I are going back to Savannah in January to do tastings and cake flavor choices but other than that, the cake is going to be something of a surprise. I love that even though I’m running most of the planning-show there will still be at least one aspect of the day that is a surprise. And with someone like Cheryl in control I’m sure I’ll be happy with whatever she decides.

You can find more on Cheryl’s bakery, Back in the Day, right here.

Things I learned:

1. Cake is meant to be eaten. And enjoyed. I know someone's going to be mad at me for saying this but I just don't find three inches of fondant a delicious way to end my night. You can't beat a tasty buttercream or something that actually melts in your mouth.

2. Be sure to consider any allergic conditions your guests may have. I was a total nit-wit and forgot to see if anyone was allergic to strawberries because I fell in love with the idea of a strawberry cake. We've got a few no-strawberries in the crowd so I'm back to flavor discussions.

3. You don't always have to have cake at a wedding. I know cupcakes are a very popular (almost too popular for me) alternative but some of the best weddings I've been to didn't have either. Fresh fruits and cream, cookies and family recipes are always great. I hope pie makes a comeback and we start seeing Grandma's lemon chess pie at weddings. As long as a wedding has dessert of some sort I'm a happy camper.

Comments

[Cheryl Day]

I am really looking forward to more taste tests with you and Aaron. If only you lived closer, we could have them all the time.
Thank you so much for the delightful post.

[DM]

I am 100% behind your proclamation that cakes should look (and be) EDIBLE. I also support the notion that cake is just one of many tempting dessert choices -- we served sorbet.

[Kari]

I wanted pie at my outdoor summer wedding but it ended up being a lot more expensive, so we had cake instead. My husband's grandmother was totally sweet though and made a peach pie for the head table and brought it to the reception as an awesome surprise. Hurray for dessert!

[Jenny Steffens, The Bliss List]

In Kansas City, we have a local bakery, Natasha's Mulberry & Mott (member of KC's Bliss List), that is the most whimsical shop I've ever seen. Natasha creates gorgeous french pastries, animal cracker cookies, delicious coffee concoctions, homemade marshmallows, goat cheese stuffed croissants and cheerful french macaroons... just to name a few! Stunning model cakes stand amongst spools of ribbon, beautiful boxes, and delicious treats. See pics of her beautiful shop at www.blisslistkc.com.

[Finch]

Pumpkin pie and ice cream cake at my wedding. I don't care if people think that's strange, I hate cake. I love pumpkin pie.

I would eat only pumpkin pie for the rest of my life if neccessary.

[grace]

that sounds delicious! pumpkin pie sure beats a ton of the dry cakes i've had at weddings over the years. ;)

[Michelle]

You can't go wrong with anything made by Cheryl - your guests will love it! We live a few blocks away and are at Back in the Day at least once a week. Next time you're in for a cake tasting, indulge in her banana pudding too - oh my! (it's worth serving two desserts for.)

[Sophie]

I totally second the no 3 inches of icing comment - I love to style but draw the line at overstyled food - I just had lovely chocolate brownies at my wedding, and apple pies as an alternative. It was perfect...

[Pia]

Like you, I'm not a fan of those elaborate fondant wedding cakes. They're pretty, sure, but that's not cake to me. At my wedding this past October, we had a wonderful spice cake with cream cheese buttercream. The baker made beautiful flowers with the fluffy buttercream in rich fall colors. It held together beautifully and it was delicious. We also had a dessert buffet with cream puffs, tarts and cookies.

[gragegrl]

I disagree with #2, and I'm not saying that because I was a bridezilla (I absolutely was not, I'm always considerate of others ) but the food allergy thing is a huge trap- you've got the lactose intolerants, the glucose intolerants, the nut allergies...the list is exhaustive. You need to pick what you want because it is a memory you will have forever and shouldn't look back with regret because Aunt Ida had a gluten allergy.

[Johdi]

We were lucky enough to have Cheryl make our beautiful wedding cake back in 2005, you are in for a treat! Not only will she make you something that you and your guests are sure to LOVE, but she is also the perfect person to calm those last minute wedding nerves with her mixture of professionalism and genuine care for her brides.

[yamgons]

I wish I could make a cake like you. All of them are delicious.

[Olga]

Hi!
One of my friends sent me your post because I will be in Savannah for MLK weekend and am looking for good food ideas as well as things to do.

This bakery looks awesome!

If you already visited Savannah and have other recommendations, please share them w/your fellow food enthusiast. (if you can email me directly at orchidgirl1979 at gmail dot com, I would really appreciate it!).

All the best with the wedding plans.

[sisofjash]

Just wanted to comment that I felt the same about my cake. I was fortunate to have a small local bakeshop (now out of business, unfortunately) do my cake. I opted for a very small three-layer white almond cake with strawberry mousse filling and basic white buttercream frosting, with only a ring of buttercream beads at the base of each layer. I also had them make a sheetcake of the same type just for pre-cutting and serving. The cake turned out yummy and my floral designer ended-up decorating my cake with leftover flowers from her set-up, much to my delight!

I also had the bakeshop provide some of their other tasty desserts for those who might not like cake/have allergies: fleur de sel brownies, key lime tartlets, berry tartlets, and a slew of giant chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Dessert is a big thing with me and everything turned out fantastically.